1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thin soft magnetic film used, for example, in a magnetic head, and more specifically, to a thin soft magnetic film having a crystal face of a magnetic material of a cubic system oriented to a particular direction and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In general, a method of making a magnetostriction constant small can be employed as one of the conditions for forming a thin soft magnetic film. A magnetostriction constant is usually determined depending on kinds of magnetic substances. In the case of alloy, the magnetostriction constant thereof can be made to a very small value by selecting a composition of the alloy, but in many cases, since magnetic substances are composed of crystals and the magnetostriction constant thereof has different values depending on the crystallographic directions, it is impossible to make the magnetostriction constant zero in all the directions.
Polycrystals are often used as a soft magnetic material, and in this case the effect of magnetostriction is avoided in such a manner that an average value of magnetostriction constants in respective directions is caused to approach zero. This is also applicable to a polycrystal thin film. However, it is difficult to perfectly remove the effect that a partial magnetostriction suppresses magnetization rotation.